Who Is The Most Attractive Employer In Australia?

Each year the Randstad Award assesses the attractiveness of AUssie businesses as employers

And the winner is...Newcrest Mining!

The big gold foraging group has taken out this year’s Randstad Award as the most attractive employer in the country, narrowly edging out the ABC for the honour.

According to the 7000 Australians surveyed by HR expert Randstad, of those that knew Newcrest 46% would like to work for them. The top five was rounded out by Virgin Blue, GHD and Wesfarmers in the hotly contested rankings.

Fittingly, mining and natural resources polled as the most preferred sector to work in as well as boasting the best salary and employee benefits. Fast food retail was the least preferred.

The award surveyed a broad and diverse range of the population, covering ages 18 to 64 years, education from secondary to post grad doctorate across all sectors and five states. Needless to say, the results are a very good indication of what potential employees want.

To remove the size bias of big well-known corporates, the award is based on ‘relative attractiveness’. That is, among respondents that know the company, the percentage that would like to work for them.

As well as identifying Newcrest as the nation’s employer of choice, the survey also covered a range of other employee attitudes and job hunting trends.

This included the factors most important to potential employees when choosing to work for a specific company. The finding here was characteristic of a faltering economy with long-term job security far and away the most important factor.

Twenty six percent of respondents ranked this as number one, up from just 11% of respondents last year.

The financial health of a company was the second most important factor, followed by a competitive salary and employee benefits. Within these findings, 46% more male than female respondents ranked financial health as the most important factor, while 43% more women than men put the promotion of workplace diversity as top priority.

The least important factor in choosing an employer was international career opportunity, followed by having the latest technologies and environmental and social awareness.

In a boost for newspapers, 61% of respondents said they still use job ads in the paper to source employment, a resource only usurped by staffing websites which draw 63% of job hunters.

It’s an interesting, comprehensive insight into employee thinking that should be taken on board by everyone in an HR function. But it’s bigger than that. Because these perceptions and preferences are cast from a distance, the survey is serious food for thought for how your small business’s image is put forward.